No bride her words of balm impart,
And warm thee at her conftant heart.
Freedom, reftrain'd by reason's force,
Is as the fun's unvarying course,
Benignly active, sweetly bright,
Affording warmth, affording light;
But torn from virtue's facred rules,
Becomes a comet, gaz'd by fools,
Fore-boding cares, and ftorms, and ftrife,
And fraught with all the plagues of life.
Thou fool! by union every creature
Subfifts, through universal nature;
And this, to beings void of mind,
Is wedlock, of a meaner kind.

While womb'd in space, primæval clay
A yet unfashion'd embryo lay,
The fource of endless good above
Shot down his fpark of kindling love;
Touch'd by the all-enliv'ning flame,
Then motion first exulting came;
Each atom fought its fep'rate class,
Through many a fair enamour'd mafs;
Love caft the central charm around,
And with eternal nuptials bound.
Then form, and order o'er the sky,
First train'd their bridal pomp on high;
The fun display'd his orb to fight,
And burnt with hymeneal light.

Hence nature's virgin-womb conceiv'd,
And with the genial burden heav'd;
Forth came the oak, her first-born heir,
And fcal'd the breathing steep of air;
Then infant stems, of various ufe,
Imbib'd her foft, maternal juice;
The flow'rs, in early bloom difclos'd,
Upon her fragrant breast repos'd;
Within her warm embraces grew
A race of endless form, and hue;
Then pour'd her leffer offspring round,
And fondly cloath'd their parent ground.
Nor here alone the virtue reign'd,
By matter's cumb'ring form detain'd;
But thence, fubliming, and refin'd,
Afpir'd, and reach'd its kindred Mind.
Caught in the fond, celeftial fire,
The Mind perceiv'd unknown defire,
And now with kind effusion flow'd,
And now with cordial ardours glow'd,
Beheld the fympathetic fair,

And lov'd its own resemblance there;
On all with circling radiance fhone,
But cent'ring, fix'd on one alone;
There clafp'd the heav'n-appointed wife,
And doubled every joy of life.

Here ever bleffing, ever blefs'd,
Refides this beauty of the breaft;
As from his palace, here the god
Still beams effulgent blifs abroad,
Here gems his own eternal round,
The ring, by which the world is bound,
Here bids his feat of empire grow,
And builds his little heav'n below.

The bridal partners thus ally'd, And thus in fweet accordance ty'd, One body, heart and spirit live, Enrich'd by every joy they give; Like echo, from her vocal hold, Return'd in mufic twenty fold.

Their union firm, and undecay'd,
Nor time can shake, nor pow'r invade;
But as the stem, and scion stand,
Ingrafted by a skilful hand,

They check the tempeft's wintry rage,
And bloom and ftrengthen into age.
A thousand amities unknown,
And pow'rs, perceiv'd by love alone,
Endearing looks, and chafte defire,
Fan, and fupport the mutual fire,
Whose flame, perpetual, as refin'd,
Is fed by an immortal mind.

Nor yet the nuptial sanction ends,
Like Nile it opens, and descends,
Which, by apparent windings led,
We trace to its celeftial head.
The fire, first springing from above,
Becomes the fource of life, and love,
And gives his filial heir to flow,
In fondness down on fons below:
Thus roll'd in one continu'd tide,
To time's extremeft verge they glide,
While kindred ftreams, on either hand,
Branch forth in bleffings o'er the land.
Thee, wretch! no lisping babe shall name,
No late-returning brother claim,
No kinfman on thy road rejoice,
No fifter greet thy ent'ring voice,
With partial eyes no parents fee,
And blefs their years restor'd in thee,
In age rejected, or declin'd,
An alien, e'en among thy kind,
The partner of thy fcorn'd embrace
Shall play the wanton in thy face,
Each spark unplume thy little pride,
All friendship fly thy faithless fide,
Thy name shall like thy carcafe rot,
In fickness fpurn'd, in death forgot.
All-giving pow'r! great fource of life!
O hear the parent! hear the wife!
That life, thou leadeft from above,
Though little, make it large in love.
O bid my feeling heart expand
To every claim, on every hand;
To thofe, from whom my days I drew,
To thefe, in whom those days renew;
To all my kin, however wide,

In cordial warmth, as blood ally'd;
To friends, with steely fetters twin'd,
And to the cruel, not unkind!

But chief, the lord of my defire,
My life, myself, my foul, my fire,
Friends, children, all that with can claim,
Chafte paffion clasp, and rapture name;
O fpare him, spare him, gracious pow'r!
O give him to my latest hour!
Let me my length of life employ,
To give my fole enjoyment joy.
His love, let mutual love excite,
Turn all my cares to his delight,
And every needless bleffing spare,
Wherein my darling wants a share.

When he with graceful action wooes,
And sweetly bills, and fondly cooes,
Ah! deck me, to his eyes alone,
With charms attractive as his own,
And in my circling wings carefs'd,
Give all the lover to my breast.

Then in our chafte, connubial bed,
My bofom pillow'd for his head,
His eyes with blissful flumbers clofe,
And watch, with me, my lord's repose,
Your peace around his temples twine,
And love him with a love like mine.
And, for I know his gen'rous flame,
Beyond what'er my sex can claim,
Me foo to your protection take,
And fpare me for my husband's fake.
Let one unruffled, calm delight
The loving and belov'd unite;
One pure defire our bofoms warm,
One will direct, one with inform;
Through life, one mutual aid sustain,
In death, one peaceful grave contain.
While, fwelling with the darling theme,
Her accents pour'd an endless stream,
The well-known wings a found impart,
That reach'd her ear, and touch'd her heart!
Quick dropp'd the mufic of her tongue,
And forth, with eager joy the fprung.
As fwift her ent'ring confort flew,
And plum'd, and kindled at the view}
Their wings their fouls embracing meet,
Their hearts with anfw'ring measure beati
Half loft in facred fweets, and blefs'd
With raptures felt, but ne'er exprefs'd,
Strait to her humble roof the led
The partner of her fpotless bed;
Her young, a flutt'ring pair, arife,
Their welcome sparkling in their eyes i
Tranfported, to their fire they bound,
And hang with fpeechless action round,
In pleasure wrapt, the parents stand,
And fee their little wings expand;
The fire, his life-fuftaining prize
To each expecting bill applies,
There fondly pours the wheaten spoil,

With transport giv'n, though won with toil;
While, all collected at the fight,
And filent through fupreme delight,
The fair high heav'n of blifs beguiles,
And on her lord, and infant smiles.

The Sparrow, whose attention hung
Upon the Dove's enchanting tongue,
Of all his little flights difarm'd,
And from himself, by virtue, charm'd,
When now he faw, what only feem'd,
A fact, fo late a fable deem'd,
His foul to envy he refign'd,
His hours of folly to the wind,
In fecret wifh'd a turtle too,

And fighing to himself, withdrew.

Which, tainted, not the quick'ning gales
That fweep Sabæa's fpicy vales,
Nor all the healing fweets reftore,
That breathe along Arabia's fhore.
The trav'ler, if he chance to stray,
May turn uncenfur'd to his way;
Polluted streams again are pure,
And deepest wounds admit a cure;
But woman! no redemption knows,
The wounds of honour never close.
Though diftant every hand to guide,
Nor skill'd on life's tempeftuous tide,
If once her feeble bark recede,
Or deviate from the courfe decreed,
In vain the feeks the friendless shore,
Her fwifter folly flies before;
The circling ports against her clofe,
And fhut the wand'rer from repofe;
Till, by conflicting waves opprefs'd,
Her found'ring pinnace finks to rest.
Are there no off'rings to atone
For but a single error? None.
Though woman is avow'd, of old,
No daughter cf celeftial mould,
Her temp'ring not without allay,
And form❜d but of the finer clay,
We challenge from the mortal dame
The strength angelic natures claim;
Nay more; for facred ftories tell,
That ev'n immortal angels fell.

Whatever fills the teeming sphere
Of humid earth, and ambient air,
With varying elements endu'd,
Was form'd to fall, and rife renew'd,

The stars no fix'd duration know,
Wide oceans ebb, again to flow,
The moon repletes her waneing face,
All-beauteous, from her late difgrace,
And funs, that mourn approaching night,
Refulgent rife with new-born light.

In vain may death, and time fubdue,
While nature mints her race anew,
And holds fome vital spark apart,
Like virtue, hid in every heart;
'Tis hence reviving warmth is feen,
To cloath a naked world in green.
No longer barr'd by winter's cold,
Again the gates of life unfold;
Again each infect tries his wing,
And lifts fresh pinions on the spring;
Again from every latent root

The bladed ftem, and tendril fhoot,
Exhaling incense to the skies,

Again to perish, and to rise.

And must weak woman then difown The change, to which a world is prone? In one meridian brightness thine, And ne'er, like ev'ning funs, decline? Refolv'd and firm alone?-Is this What we demand of woman?—Yes. But fhould the spark of veftal fire In fome unguarded hour expire, Or fhould the nightly thief invade Hefperia's chafte, and facred fhade, Of all the blooming spoil poffefs'd, The dragon honour charm'd to reft, Shall virtue's flame no more return? No more with virgin splendor burn?

No more the ravaged garden blow
With fpring's fucceeding bloffom?No.
Pity may mourn, but not restore,
And woman falls, to rife no more.

WITHIN this fublunary sphere,
A country lies no matter where;
The clime may readily be found
By all, who tread poetic ground.
A ftream, call'd Life, acrofs it glides,
And equally the land divides;
And here, of vice the province lies,
And there, the hills of virtue rife.

Upon a mountain's airy stand,
Whole fummit look'd to either land,
An ancient pair their dwelling chofe,
As well for profpect, as repofe;
For mutual faith they long were fam'd,
And Temp'rance, and Religion, nam'd.
A num'rous progeny divine
Confefs'd the honours of their line;
But in a little daughter fair,

Was center'd more than half their care;
For heav'n to gratulate her birth,
Gave figns of future joy to earth;
White was the robe this infant wore,
And Chastity the name the bore.

As now the maid in stature grew,
(A flow'r juft op'ning to the view)
Oft through her native lawns the ftray'd,
And wrestling with the lambkins play'd;
Her looks diffufive fweets bequeath'd,
The breeze grew purer ás fhe breath'd,
The morn her radiant blush affum'd,
The fpring with earlier fragrance bloom'd
And nature, yearly, took delight,
Like her, to drefs the world in white.

But when her rifing form was feen To reach the crisis of fifteen, Her parents up the mountain's head, With anxious ftep their darling led; By turns they fnatch'd her to their breast, And thus the fears of age exprefs'd.

O joyful caufe of many a care! O daughter, too divinely fair! Yon world, on this important day, Demands thee to a dangerous way; A painful journey, all must go, Whofe doubtful period none can know, Whofe due direction who can find, Where Reason's mute, and Senfe is blind? Ah, what unequal leaders thefe, Through fuch a wide, perplexing maze! Then mark the warnings of the wife, And learn what love, and years advise. Far to the right thy profpect bend, Where yonder tow'ring hills afcend; Lo, there the arduous path's in view, Which Virtue, and her fons purfue! With toil o'er lefs'ning earth they rife, And gain, and gain upon the skies. Narrow's the way her children tread, No walk, for pleasure smoothly spread, But rough, and difficult, and steep, Painful to climb, and hard to keep. Fruits immature thofe lands difpenfe, A food indelicate to fenfe,

Of tafte unpleasant; yet from those
Pure health, with cheerful vigour flows,
And ftrength, unfeeling of decay,
Throughout the long, laborious way.

Hence, as they scale that heav'nly road,
Each limb is lighten'd of its load;
From earth refining ftill they go,
And leave the mortal weight below;
Then fpreads the strait, the doubtful clears,
And smooth the rugged path appears;
For custom turns fatigue to eafe,
And, taught by virtue, pain can please.
At length, the toilfome journey o'er,
And near the bright, celestial shore,
A gulph, black, fearful, and profound,
Appears, of either world the bound,
Through darkness, leading up to light:
Senfe backwards thrinks, and fhuns the fight;
For there the tranfitory train,

Of time, and form, and care, and pain,
And matter's gross, incumb'ring mass,
Man's late affociates, cannot país,
But finking, quit th' immortal charge,
And leave the wand'ring foul at large;
Lightly the wings her obvious way,
And mingles with eternal day.

Thither, O! thither wing thy speed,
Though pleasure charm, or pain impede!
To fuch th' all-bounteous pow'r has giv'n
For prefent earth, a future heav'n;
For trivial lofs, unmeasur'd gain,
And endless blifs, for tranfient pain.

Then fear, ah fear to turn thy fight,"
Where yonder flow'ry fields invite;
Wide on the left the path-way bends,
And with perpicious ease descends;
There sweet to sense, and fair to show
New-planted Edens feem to blow,
Trees, that delicious poifon bear,
For death is vegetable there.

Hence is the frame of health unbrac'd,
Each finew flack'ning at the taste;
The foul to paffion yields her throne,
And fees with organs not her own;
While, like the flumb`rer in the night,
Pleas'd with the fhadowy dream of light,
Before her alienated eyes

The fcenes of fairy-land arife;

The puppet world's amusing show,
Dipt in the gayly-colour'd bow;

Scepters, and wreaths, and glitt'ring things
The toys of infants, and of kings,
That tempt, along the baneful plain,
The idly wife, and lightly vain,
"Till verging on the gulphy shore,
Sudden they fink, and rife no more.
But lift to what thy fates declare;
Though thou art woman, frail as fair,
If once thy fliding foot fhould stray,
Once quit yon heav'n-appointed way,
For thee, loft maid, for thee alone,
Nor pray'rs fhall plead, nor tears atone;
Reproach, fcorn, infamy, and hate,
On thy returning fteps fhall wait,
Thy form be loath'd by every eye,
And every foot thy prefence fly.

Thus arm'd with words of potent found,
Like guardian angels plac'd around,

A charm, by truth divinely caft,
Forward our young advent'rer pafs'd.
Forth from her facred eye-lids fent,
Like morn, fore-running radiance went,
While honour, hand-maid, late affign'd,
Upheld her lucid train behind.

Awe-ftruck, the much admiring crowd
Before the virgin vifion bow'd,
Gaz'd with an ever-new delight,

And caught fresh virtues at the fight:
For not of earth's unequal frame

They deem'd the heav'n-compounded Dame,

If matter, fure the most refin'd,

High wrought, and temper'd into mind,
Some darling daughter of the day,
And body'd by her native ray.

Where-e'er the paffes, thousands bend,

And thousands, where the moves, attend ;
Her ways obfervant eyes confess,
Her steps pursuing praises blefs;
While to the elevated Maid
Oblations, as to heav'n, are paid.

'Twas on an ever-blithfome day, The jovial birth of rofy May,

When genial warmth, no more fupprefs'd, New-melts the froft in every breast, The cheek with fecret flushing dyes, And looks kind things from chastest eyes; The fun with healthier vifage glows, Afide his clouded kerchief throws, And dances up th' etherial plain, Where late he us'd to climb with pain, While Nature, as from bonds fet free, Springs out, and gives a loose to glee. And now, for momentary rest, The Nymph her travel'd step reprefs'd, Juft turn'd to view the stage attain'd, And glory'd in the height the gain'd. Out-ftretch'd before her wide furvey, The realms of fweet perdition lay, And pity touch'd her foul with woe, To fee a world fo loft below; When strait the breeze began to breathe Airs, gently wafted from beneath, That bore commiffion'd witchcraft thence, And reach'd her sympathy of sense; No founds of difcord, that difclofe A people funk, and loft in woes, But as of prefent good poffefs'd, The very triumph of the blefs'd. The Maid in wrapt attention hung, While thus approaching Sirens fung.

Hither, faireft, hither hafte,
Brightest beauty, come and taite
What the pow'rs of blifs unfold,
Joys, too mighty to be told;
Tafte what extafies they give,
Dying raptures tafte, and live.

In thy lap, difdaining measure,
Nature empties all her treasure,
Soft defires, that fweetly languish,
Fierce delights that rise to anguish;
Faireft, doft thou yet delay ?
Brightest beauty, come away.

Lift not, when the froward chide,
Sons of pedantry, and pride,

Snarlers, to whose feeble fenfe
April funshine is offence ;
Age and envy will advife
Ev'n against the joy they prize.
Come, in pleafure's balmy bowl
Slake the thirstings of thy foul,
'Till thy raptur'd pow'rs are fainting
With enjoyment, past the painting;
Faireft, doft thou yet delay?
Brightest beauty, come away.

So fung the Sirens, as of yore,
Upon the falfe Aufonian shore ;
And, O for that preventing chain,
That bound Ulyffes on the main,
That fo our Fair-One might withstand
The covert ruin, now at hand.

The fong her charm'd attention drew,
When now the tempters stood in view;
Curiofity with prying eyes,

And hands of bufy, bold emprife;
Like Hermes, feather'd were her feet,
And, like fore-running fancy, fleet..
By fearch untaught, by toil untir'd,
To novelty she still aspir'd,
Taftelefs of every good poffefs'd,
And but in expectation bless'd.

With her, affociate, Pleafure came,
Gay Pleasure, frolic-loving dame,
Her mien, all swimming in delight,
Her beauties half reveal'd to fight;

Loofe flow'd her garments from the ground,
And caught the kiffing winds around.
As erft Medufa's looks were known
To turn beholders into stone,

A dire reverfion here they felt,
And in the eye of Pleasure melt.
Her glance with sweet perfuafion charm'd,
Unnerv'd the strong, the fteel'd difarm'd;
No fafety ev'n the flying find,
Who vent'rous, look but once behind.

Thus was the much-admiring Maid,
While diftant, more than half betray'd:
With fmiles, and adulation bland,

They join'd her fide, and feiz'd her hand:
Their touch envenom'd sweets inftill'd,
Her frame with new pulfations thrill'd,
While half consenting, half denying,
Reluctant now, and now complying,
Amidft a war of hopes, and fears,
Of trembling wishes, fmiling tears,
Still down, and down, the winning Pair
Compell'd the struggling, yielding Fair.

As when some stately veffel, bound
To bleft Arabia's distant ground,
Borne from her courfes, haply lights
Where Barca's flow'ry clime invites,
Conceal'd around whofe treach'rous land,
Lurk the dire rock, and dangerous fand;
The pilot warns with fail and oar,
To fhun the much-fufpected fhore,
In vain; the tide, too fubtly strong,
Still bears the wrestling bark along,
Till found'ring, the refigns to fate,
And finks o'erwhelm'd, with all her freight,
So baffling every bar to fin,

And heaven's own pilot, plac'd within,

1

Along the devious, smooth defcent,
With pow'rs increafing as they went,
The Dames, accuftom'd to fubdue,
As with a rapid current drew,
And o'er the fatal bounds convey'd
The loft, the long-reluctant Maid.

Here ftop, ye fair-ones, and beware,
Nor fend your fond affections there ;
Yet, yet your darling, now deplor'd,
May turn, to you, and heav'n, reftor'd;
"Till then, with weeping honour wait,
The fervant of her better fate;
With honour, left upon the fhore,
Her friend, and handmaid now no more;
Nor, with the guilty world, upbraid
The fortunes of a wretch, betray'd';
But o'er her failing caft the veil,
Rememb'ring, you yourselves are frail.
And now, from all-enquiring light
Faft fled the confcious fhades of night;
The Damfel, from a fhort repofe,
Confounded at her plight, arofe.

As when, with flumb'rous weight opprefs'd
Some wealthy miser finks to reft,
Where felons eye the glitt'ring prey,
And fteal his hoard of joys away;
He, borne where golden Indus ftreams,
Of pearl, and quarry'd di’mond dreams,
Like Midas, turns the glebe to ore,
And ftands all wrapt amidst his ftore,
But wakens, naked, and defpoil'd
Of that, for which his years had toil'd.
So far'd the Nymph, her treasure flown,
And turn'd, like Niobe, to stone;
Within, without, obfcure, and void,
She felt all ravag'd, all destroy'd.
And, O thou curs'd, infidious coaft!
Are these the blessings thou canst boast ?
Thefe, virtue there the joys they find,
Who leave thy heav'n-topt hills behind?
Shade me, ye pines, ye caverns, hide,
Ye mountains, cover me, the cry'd !

Her trumpet flander rais'd on high,
And told the tidings to the sky;
Contempt difcharg'd a living dart,
A fide-long viper to her heart;
Reproach breath'd poisons o'er her face,
And foil'd, and blafted every grace;
Officious thame, her handmaid new,
Still turn'd the mirror to her view;
While thofe, in crimes the deepest dy'd,
Approach'd, to whiten at her fide,
And every lewd, infulting dame
Upon her folly rofe to fame.

What fhould fhe do? Attempt once more
To gain the late-deferted shore?
So trufting, back the Mourner flew,
As faft the train of fiends purfue.
Again the farther fhore's attain'd,
Again the land of virtue gain'd;
But echo gathers in the wind,
And fhows her inftant foes behind.
Amaz'd, with headlong speed the tends,
Where late fhe left a host of friends:
Alas! thofe fhrinking friends decline,
Nor longer own that form divine;
With fear they mark the following cry,
And from the lonely Trembler fly,

|Or backward drive her on the coaft,
Where peace was wreck'd, and honour loft.
From earth thus hoping aid in vain,
To heav'n not daring to complain,
No truce by hoftile clamour giv'n,
And from the face of friendship driv❜n,
The Nymph funk prostrate on the ground,
With all her weight of woes around.

Enthron'd within a circling fky,
Upon a mount o'er mountains high,
All radiant fate, as in a fhrine,
Virtue, first effluence divine;
Far, far above the scenes of woe,
That fhut this cloud-wrapt world below ;
Superior goddefs, effence bright,
Beauty of uncreated light,
Whom fhould mortality survey,
As doom'd upon a certain day,
The breath of frailty must expire,
The world diffolve in living fire,
The gems of heav'n, and folar flame
Be quench'd by her eternal beam,
And nature, quick'ning in her eye,
To rife a new-born phoenix, die.

Hence, unreveal'd to mortal view,
A veil around her form fhe threw,
Which three fad fifters of the shade,
Pain, care, and melancholy, made.

Through this her all-enquiring eye,
Attentive from her station high,
Beheld, abandon'd to despair,
The ruins of her fav'rite Fair;
And with a voice, whofe awful found
Appal'd the guilty world around,
Bid the tumultuous winds be still;
To numbers bow'd each lift'ning hill,
Uncurl'd the furging of the main,
And smooth'd the thorny bed of pain;
The golden harp of heav'n fhe ftrung,
And thus the tuneful goddess fung.

Lovely Penitent, arife,

Come, and claim thy kindred skies;
Come, thy fifter-angels say,
Thou haft wept thy stains away.
Let experience now decide,
'Twixt the good and evil try'd ;
In the fmooth, enchanted ground,
Say, unfold the treasures found.

Structures, rais'd by mourning dreams,
Sands, that trip the flitting streams,
Down, that anchors on the air,
Clouds, that paint their changes there.

Seas, that fmoothly dimpling lie,
While the ftorm impends on high,
Showing, in an obvious glass,
Joys, that in poffeffion pafs;

Tranfient, fickle, light, and gay,
Flatt'ring, only to betray;
What, alas, can life contain !
Life, like all its circles, vain!

Will the ftork, intending rest,
On the billow build her neft?
Will the bee demand his ftore
From the bleak, and bladelefs shore?
Man alone, intent to stray,
Ever turns from wisdom's way,